


Deja Vu (Formerly: Hold my Hand)

by mOther3



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Now featuring: emotionally unavailable Lewis, Polyamory, They're lonely
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 06:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6843181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mOther3/pseuds/mOther3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The remaining Mystery Skulls slowly piece themselves together after they realize something is missing. </p><p>Those missing pieces end up solving a much larger puzzle than they were expecting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Search

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write some fluff/angst. Probably going to finish this for once.
> 
> (UPDATE: this was a lie. I suck at actually posting on time)

They'd lived in the van for almost a month now. Arthur slumped himself up against the back of the front seats, a light and paranoid sleeper. Vivi spread herself out all over the back, kicking blankets, repositioning herself and sleep talking. She was the opposite. A very heavy sleeper who wouldn't wake unless the world was ending.. Or her favorite cartoon was on. 

They ate breakfast and dinner (lunch wasn't in the budget) on the roof in quiet appreciation of each other's presence.

The bill for Arthur's arm nearly bankrupted the two of them. Vivi seemed to be taking it well. Arthur, on the other hand, was devastated. His uncle helped financially, morally, anything he could to support the two, but even with the help, Arthur and Vivi still resorted to living in the van until they were absolutely sure they could afford an apartment. Lance had offered to take them in, even, but Arthur refused, considering himself a burden. 

Vivi said she liked it. Arthur believed her for a little bit until the night when he found her up on the roof when she should have been asleep, crying her eyes out.

They talked for hours about their lives. Vivi was upset to have seen hers spiral to the point of living in a van. That broke Arthur's heart. 

"It's sunrise already." Vivi said through tears.

"Oh. It is." Arthur had pulled her into a soft hug.

"Something's missing." 

"Let's find it."

They didn't talk much anymore, not needing to or wanting to at times. Tonight there were more words than the duration of their life in the van together. They weren't mad at each other, or sad, they simply had nothing to say anymore.

They returned to the van in silence. Arthur taking her soft, warm hand. 

\---

They looked for a very long time for something they weren't even sure about. Arthur wondered why they were looking so hard for this unidentifiable thing. But it made Vivi happy, so he didn't wonder more than a few days. 

And then she wasn't happy.

They'd been looking for two weeks. Any spare time was devoted to driving around trying to find some lead, or clue to get to this probably imagined end. They were driving on the outskirts of their tiny hometown when Arthur looked over, and she was in quiet tears, staring out the window with hopeless eyes. 

They stopped. Arthur got out. Vivi wouldn't move. He opened the passenger door, and helped her out. She didn't make direct eye contact with him at all, glancing around sadly.

Her eyes spoke words for her. She was exhausted. 

Arthur lifted his arm up to meet a delicate tear-streaked cheek and she brought her empty gaze to meet his, leaning her cheek against his rough hand. It was a long, wordless conversation. They were both tired. Lonely. 

They parked on the side of the road that night. Vivi said she couldn't sleep at all and Arthur held out a hand in reply. They slept nestled up against one another. Arthur draped his good arm across her warm mid section (a comfort to her). Vivi found solace in resting her head against his spindly shoulder, hand against his stubble covered cheek. Arthur wished he had both arms so he could hold her closer.

She fell asleep after that. Arthur didn't. 

Something was still missing.


	2. Remember

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur recalls his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this is late I'm a lazy writer

Neither of them remembered what it was that was gone. Arthur tried to, remaining awake while Vivi slept soundly against his scrawny body. It was something they cared about deeply.

Someone. 

A flash of purple and a heartwrenching, cry. A warm, gentle embrace gone cold. Reassuring words that wouldn't be spoken again and phantoms of soft kisses against his neck that put his racing mind to a tranquil halt. 

It was someone he loved. Arthur knew that much. 

His memories crept back as he drifted to sleep. 

...

"Arthur?" It was the sweetest voice. Deep and smooth, with a faint, nearly undetectable accent of some Latin American origin. Arthur loved that voice. 

He looked up, trying to find the source of it. 

It was a warm presence near him. A hand on his shoulder that ran up to his cheek, lingering to feel Arthur's hesitant, warm breath.

"Yes?" For some reason, this felt familiar and comforting to Arthur. He leaned into the hand on his cheek ever so slightly to take in how real it seemed.

"You seem distracted." The presence replied softy. 

This was the night Lewis told Arthur how he felt. It was obvious that the two liked each other. It was also obvious that he and Vivi were dating. 

Arthur shot a glance up to the owner of the voice that spoke, his face muddled by memory. From what he could make out it was chiseled, yet not sharp and unwelcoming. He had round features and dark brown eyes that Arthur could lose himself in. 

"Oh. Uh. Yeah, sorry Lew."

Lew? Was that his name? It was a nickname, something shortened..

"I wanted to talk to you. Just for a few moments."

Arthur allowed himself to be sat down gingerly on a nearby couch. The figure called Lew situated himself close enough that Arthur could feel the warmth of his body.

Lew talked for a while. Longer than the few moments he stated. He rambled and stuttered, getting off track and starting over again before he got to the point. 

"What I mean is.. We feel like someone's missing. We both love you, Arthur."

With that he lifted Arthur's shaking hand and kissed it ever so softly. Arthur shook and smiled stupidly. He was very happy that day. 

And it was gone.

He woke up in a cold sweat, reconnecting with the world. Vivi was fast asleep in his arms. He still had her. Half of a whole. Arthur pressed a hesitant kiss to the back of her head, she shifted around in her sleep, muttering his name quietly.

The figure was gone, but he knew what they were looking for. They were looking for the owner of that sweet voice. Everything would be right then. 

Arthur drove for the rest of the night, letting his companion rest. She needed it. Vivi was inconsolable these past few days. Usually she was excitable, ready to take on the world. Now she was only ready for quiet conversations with Arthur in the privacy of the van where she'd cry and ask him what was wrong with her, and if they were ever going to find what they were looking for. Arthur made a promise he'd find it, and now he had a lead. A shadowy purple memory of what they once had.


	3. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Found, but not whole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO LAZY IM SORRY ITS BEEN LIKE A YEAR SINCE THE LAST CHAPTER

The memory himself knew who he was and how much his loving companions meant. He missed them immensely. Arthur, with his lopsided, bashful smiles, and Vivi's blue eyes that shone like the sky. And they didn't remember him at all. 

He didn't know where they went. He heard the screams and the sirens and the screech of tires as they all left him and that was the last contact he had with the mortal world. 

Surely, he thought, they would come back for him. To take his body, to bury him.

They didn't.

He still waited for them by the place he died, hoping that his companions would one day return. 

They drove past one day. It was a misty morning when the van flew down the old asphalt, faint sounds of a symphony playing from the radio traveling through the thick air. Arthur was on his morning rounds of the town in his search with Vivi.

The memory followed, unnoticeable, working his way through the van's machinery. The engine gave a stutter, and the dash shone a faint purple for a moment as he entered the vehicle.

And there they were. Arthur was driving, somber and tired.

Vivi was in the back, blanket wrapped over her shoulders, silent crystal tears streaking her flushed cheeks. Lewis never saw her in such a condition before. He sat near her.

She shivered, pulling another blanket over her body and sniffling. 

"Hey.. I'm right here."

She looked over at him. Or was it through him? 

"Don't cry, my flower."

Vivi felt the presence, the feeling of a memory that wasn't quite there haunting her. This was what she was looking for.

"Arthur?"

"What is it?"

"Stop the van."

\---

Once they'd pulled over to the side of the road, Vivi was on her feet, still wrapped in a blanket, looking for the source of her memories. Arthur could feel it too. A dull sensation of someone nearby. He felt a hand on his shoulder, it was large and cold, sending a chill down his back. 

There was nothing there when he turned around. Lewis felt sick. His whole being, the locket he wore on his jacket, withered. He was right there, hand on Arthur's shoulder, looking into his worn eyes. He looked so tired.. The last time he'd seen these eyes...

They were empty. The fall was a blur to him. He hardly knew what hit him, and was left to piece it together in his solitude. All he remembered was looking into Arthur's eyes one last time, and seeing nothing. No hint of life or personality. Then he was skewered across a sharp protrusion in the cave, instantly dead. 

Did he blame Arthur? He didn't know.

"Vivi, I think we found it."

She looked up, tears spilling onto the blanket she was wrapped in

"Me too."


	4. Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi remembers

Vivi was asleep. 

They'd been on the side of the road for three days trying every single summoning spell they knew. Lewis waited patiently for them to find a way to make him visible again. 

It hurt Lewis to watch Arthur fumble through spell books on his own and chant ceaselessly for hours. He was trying so hard for someone he couldn't remember. Lewis wanted to tell him how good a job he was doing, to kiss those tired lips to make him remember how much the three loved each other. Every failed spell and tired sigh from the ginger drove into his soul. 

Tonight, after Vivi went to sleep again, Arthur was up chanting spells. This one was complex, it made Lewis feel tingly and warm. Every now and then it would cause a burst of light in his field of vision.

This would be the one.

Arthur watched the shimmering air around him as he wrapped up the spell. It formed a large figure, similar to the one he had dreamt about. The words he had been planning to say were swept away as the lingering spirit they'd been trying to summon materialized in front of him. 

A man in his twenties, heavily built, with sweeping purple hair. He was wearing tattered clothes, splattered with old blood stains.

"Arthur."

The resulting scream from the exhausted mechanic was enough to wake Vivi. As soon as she saw Lewis, she froze, mind working. 

"I'm not going to hurt you.. I've been looking for you guys..." The spirit said calmly, as he watched Vivi pull the quaking Arthur up into her arms. 

She opened her mouth for a moment, closed it, in thought, then spoke hesitantly

"I think.. We've been looking for you too. Sorry Arthur screamed at you... He's an easy scare..." She said, not breaking eye contact with Lewis. 

"No, it's okay. I understand why he'd be scared."

Lewis slowly moved towards the two. Vivi remained perfectly still, allowing the spirit to approach her and run a hesitant (and freezing cold) hand across her cheek. It felt familiar somehow, yet she did not know this spirit.

Arthur was crying and shivering at this point, eyes wrenched shut. He remembered. The intense and sudden hate for his lover that drove him to murder. His mind, flooded with such burning, maddening malice, succumbed to the demon taking over his body right away. Lewis was here to kill him. Take revenge for what Arthur did. It was all his fault.

"Artie. Hey." Vivi chimed down at him, pressing a warm hand to his cheek to snap him out of the flood of memories, "He says he knows us..."

Arthur managed a faint, strangled cry at this, wanting nothing to do with this anymore. Lewis backed away, eyes shooting back to Vivi, who tried to calm him down, "Well... He's not usually this bad..."

"I know. I've known him for a long time." Lewis mumbled, taking Arthur's limp hand, "Arthur, why are you so afraid of me?"

"I-I killed you..."

\---

Things were tense. Arthur avoided conversation with Lewis at all costs, still blaming himself. Lewis did not know how he felt, even after Arthur explained all of it to him, so he figured that they would sort their emotions out in time. 

Vivi was thoroughly captivated by the ghost who now lived with them. She had faint memories of him, and bits and pieces of how their relationship worked... The three of them, in the van, loving each other and solving mysteries. How come it wasn't working like it used to?

The love was gone... Arthur was afraid for his life. Lewis, in his new state, had the emotional range of a brick. And Vivi? She just wanted her boys back...


	5. Double

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis finds something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work is still alive I swear

Lewis left them frequently, Vivi was sure it was to have time to himself and give Arthur his much needed space. It seemed his and Vivi's roles had switched. She was now the one comforting him, encouraging him to eat meals and maybe get up once in a while.

He needed her comfort. 

"Arthur. I want to talk."

Arthur was spending his time moping in the back of the van as usual when Vivi declared she wanted to speak with him. She wouldn't have any more to do with the way her boys were acting. She was going to make things right between the three of them, and she would start with the strongest relationship she had—between her and Arthur.

He groaned at her voice and rolled over, looking up at his blue companion's serious face. There wasn't much left for Arthur to talk about. He killed their lover. What was he supposed to say? 'My bad?' He'd explained what happened in as much detail as he could remember to Vivi at least twice now. Just about all he said lately was 'sorry', especially in the presence of Lewis, who it just seemed to annoy. 

Vivi pulled herself under the blanket he'd wrapped himself in, facing him so he'd have to listen to her.

Arthur was pale from staying in the van for the past few days, ginger stubble beginning to grow under his chin and bags forming below his eyes. Vivi looked him over. This was the man who'd brought Lewis back to her when she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep going. That bravery and tenacity was there... Somewhere...

She deemed a pep talk effective to cheer him up, but Arthur started crying before Vivi even opened her mouth to speak. The determined speech she'd been running over in her mind crumbled and she brought her warm arms around his trembling body to console him. Arthur wished again that he had both of his arms, so that he could pull himself even closer to her. 

"Art... Tell me what's wrong... I want to make things better..."

He buried his head into the crook of her neck and spilled all of his fears and insecurities about the incident to her, "I-I pushed him... I-I was jealous of you two a little a-and... I-I... I didn't mean to! Something was in my head, Viv! I-I don't know why Lewis is being so nice now... He knows what I did...-"

The back doors of the van opened before Arthur could say more, bathing them in evening light. Vivi sat up, eyes wide. Arthur shrieked and scrambled behind her, gripping onto the fabric of her sweater and babbling breathlessly.

"H-how did... W-what..."

Vivi moved in front of Arthur, shifting away from the opened doors. 

"Lewis, what is that?!"

Lewis was standing in the opened doors, usually clean suit torn and mangled. He held out an almost exact copy of Arthur (it had two arms, not one) by the scruff of the neck. It snarled and clawed pointlessly at him, with glowing, malicious eyes in the palms of its green hands. 

"I found it." Lewis said nonchalantly.

Arthur's vice grip on Vivi's back went limp and he passed out at the sight of his other self. 

"You FOUND it?!" Vivi was still moving away from it, pulling Arthur's floppy body close, protective, "Where did it come from?!"

"I've been going back to the cave, Vivi. To try to get rid of it." 

Vivi hardly realized she was crying. This was too much to handle even for her. 

"Why didn't you tell us?! You could've- you could've died!"

Lewis raised his spectral eyebrows at this. Not Arthur hissed, reaching for the locket on its captor's lapel. 

"I'm already dead. Are you going to help me exorcise it or not?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also this is a kinda short chapter but this was a good place to end it fhdhsbbf


	6. Hunted (pt 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Normalcy, for a brief moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was fun >:^)
> 
> And as a sidenote: a while ago after Freaking Out released, Ben revealed where they live, and I make a brief reference to it. The Mystery Skulls gang lives in Tempo, Texas!

Capturing the demon that killed Lewis mended a lot of the emotional wounds left between the three of them. Vivi wasn't strong enough to completely take care of it though. 

It was currently confined to a small vessel that held it from injuring any more of them. Until they could figure out what to do with it, it would stay there. 

Then they got their first job in months. 

Arthur heard about it working for his uncle on the weekend. A customer with a mangled pickup truck from a local nursery complaining about a tree monster that managed to tear off a wheel and shatter the windshield, along with inflicting a smattering of dents, scratches, and chipped paint. 

Arthur gave him their card:

-Mystery Skulls-  
-Paranormal Investigation Experts-  
-Arthur Kingsmen-

"Give me a call if you want that tree taken care of."

And they got the call. 

A strong Sakura tree spirit had taken up residence in a plant nursery on the outskirts of Tempo and wasn't taking too nicely to the staff there. It'd driven off customers and ruined assets, like the truck that was brought in the Kingsmen garage. By the looks of it, this wouldn't be an easy job, but it still excited the reunited team. Their lives were finally starting to turn normal (in a relative way) and this job offered a lucrative reward to fund their normalcy.

"We could get an apartment!" Vivi chimed at Arthur when he told them the news. The cramped van was hardly enough now that there were three living in it. Despite this, everyone tried not to complain, after all, living together like this at all was blissful. 

"Two grand isn't gonna cut it, Viv."

"I can dream if I want to!"

Lewis but in with a little smirk, "Well I won't have to pay rent since I'm dead."

"Yes you do!" His companions snapped back

"Do not!"

"Even if you're dead, you're still a member of the team!" Vivi replied frankly. Lewis smiled.

He was a part of the team. It made his cold body feel warm. He would do anything for them, in truth. He'd pay all of their rent if he could.

He'd die again for them if he had to. 

\---

Just a few hours after they took the job, they were set up in the nursery past closing, waiting for the spirit to show its face.

The night was silent. Every now and then a drift of green petals would flutter by on a soft breeze. 

Lewis waited by the checkout area, possessing a cash register to stay hidden.

Vivi was stationed in the rows of trees growing in the back of the nursery, pacing through them slowly.

Arthur waited in a greenhouse with curious tropical plants.

A faint, echoing giggle interrupted the silence in the humid greenhouse. A trail of green petals drifted into the hazy air, hanging for a moment before settling around Arthur's ratty sneakers. 

The shadows of the trees outside of the structure swayed in the night breeze, one shifting and changing with a flurry of petals from the movement. From the cloud of petals in the entrance, the spirit emerged. 

She was massive, humanoid, standing a little over eight feet tall when she rose to her full height. In her hands, a pair of monstrous shears glinted in the moonlight, dripping with ooze from mutilated nursery plants. Her snowy hair obscured most of her face, save for piercing pink eyes that shone in the darkness of the night. Cruel, jagged fangs twisted into a smile at having caught the scent of a frightened human—a snaky orange tongue testing the smell in the humid air to locate her prey. 

"Vivi! I have visual contact! Come in!" Arthur hissed into his radio as the spirit moved into the greenhouse with him. The tropical flowers bloomed in her presence, petals drifting into the air. 

A pair of beady eyes met Arthur's frightened gaze and a smooth, deep voice purred out to him:

"Oh, have I been looking for you~"


	7. Freaking Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The spirit appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! It took me almost as long as hellbent has been in development to update this!

"M-me? But I've never even met you before!" Arthur squeaked, as the table separating them was overturned, sending plants everywhere.

"Don't play dumb!" The spirit growled out at him, stepping over the wreckage of the table towards him. Arthur threw a table of bonsai over to try to buy himself some time. A moment of intense anger from some memory flashed through the spirit's eyes at this. Arthur used the opportunity to dart away under another table, clamoring for his radio, "Vivi come in! It's attacking me!"

He got static in reply, quickly seized by the the spirit and hoisted into the humid nighttime air.

"Vivi-! Lewis!!"

His body connected with a table as he fell back down, prosthetic arm snapping loose of the port in his shoulder and sparking furiously as it landed in the ruin of some potted plants a few feet away. The mangled stump of the prosthetic was still left jagged in Arthur's body. 

The resulting cry was loud enough to draw Lewis from the front of the nursery. Arthur hardly knew what happened next, nauseous with pain, he simply tried to pull himself out of harm's way and flop onto his good side. His vision was blurry with hot tears, and he only saw streaks of the spirit and Lewis’ spectral aura striking at each other. 

"Get away!" Lewis threw himself at the offending spirit, who spilled over a table of orchids to keep him at bay for a precious few seconds.

He got to her, grabbing a hold of her arm and flaring up with ghostly magic. It singed her arm where he was holding her and she yelped, trying to pull out of his grip as her frail skin crumbled. 

"Why are you doing this to him." Lewis asked flatly. Vivi scrambled into the greenhouse to try to help Arthur while the spirit was at bay. 

“Nh.. my arm... it broke my arm...” He stammered as Vivi pulled him up hastily. Arthur’s vision blurred as he tried to stand too quickly and he doubled against her, sinking back to the floor.

The Sakura writhed and hissed as Lewis managed to hold it down, while it spouted obscenities towards Arthur, who was too dazed to care. Lewis shouted to stop her from bothering him further and tightened his grasp. 

"Tell me who you are, and what you want from him. Now." He threatened. She shrank back, looking from Arthur to Lewis' eyes. 

"It's not your business." She shot another hateful glance to Arthur, who was weakly at his feet with Vivi's help, dismally sobbing over his broken prosthetic masterpiece.

Lewis pulled her closer and she tried to jab her shears into his side. Instead they went right through and she stumbled in place, losing her balance from the force of the swing she took. The ghost released his grasp and let her fall back into the wall, shaking the greenhouse and bringing a few hanging plants down. 

“What do you want.” He asked again, kicking her down as she struggled to her feet again. Vivi winces at how aggressive Lewis is being, but she can’t blame him after what the spirit did to Arthur.

“It’s a demon.” She pointed to Arthur accusingly. “And it needs to learn to stop poking its nose in my business.”

“Arthur is _not_ a demon!” Vivi interrupted, earning a hateful look from the spirit. 

“Shut it, witch.”

“ _Excuse_ me?!” She released her hold on Arthur, who doubles back against another table of plants. 

“Vivi, don’t..” he muttered, trying to stay up. Lewis throws out a hand and stops her from getting any closer. 

“Your demon friend got in my way, and it is going to get what’s coming.” The spirit hissed, throwing another hurt glance toward Arthur. 

“Arthur’s human, he couldn’t hurt a fly!” Vivi snapped, trying to get at her behind Lewis’ protective arm.

The Sakura smiled wryly at this “Oh, are you sure? Did he not impale the purple one here?” 

Lewis looked back to his killer, who’s doubled over against a table, still crying in pain. It was true. Arthur wouldn’t hurt a fly. There was another Arthur that certainly would do that and more if he (it?) had the chance, though. 

“No. He didn’t. I can show you who did, as long as you don’t bother Arthur anymore.”

She looked at him for a long time, gaging wether or not he’s being honest.

“... What do you mean.”

“I mean, we have the demon you’re looking for.” Lewis says plainly, “We’ll let you see it if you agree to leave us three alone.”

Before the spirit could speak, Vivi butted in, “Now wait just a minute! As leader of the Mystery Skulls, I do the negotiation with supernatural beings. Tell us what you want with this demon first, and then we’ll let you see it! And how come you know what happened to Lewis?”

The Sakura spirit narrowed her eyes at Vivi, “Because I was _there_ , idiot. I had plans for you, but that stupid demon screwed them up.” 

“Plans for me..?”

“When the granddaughter of one of the most powerful witches alive steps foot in my territory, you expect me to do nothing?” She said it like it’s obvious and Vivi took a cautious step back in reply.

“Okay. We’ll let you see the demon. Then you gotta leave us and this nursery alone...”


End file.
